Stringent hygiene requirements for commercial kitchens and food preparation areas have resulted in the widespread use of commercial warewashing machines. In smaller commercial kitchens, these are generally batch loading high temperature or low temperature machines capable of cleaning a single rack of dishes, glasses and silverware at a time. Since it is difficult to load such a rack while within the warewashing machine, most users place the machine proximate to cabinet, kitchen counter or fixed work stations in the use environment. Unfortunately, this requires space for the machine which may be at a premium in smaller establishments. Some kitchens will build-in, or incorporate into the kitchen, a permanent prewash spray station and sink into a table or counter that can act to hold objects for insertion into the machine or can support hot objects recently removed. This enables a user to remove excess food debris from the ware prior to wash and to permit handling of hot or wet ware. This spray station can also comprise a garbage disposal to handle the food debris. While beneficial, such an arrangement consumes valuable space which may not be available.
An alternative for such permanent installations are needed. Smaller dishwashers suitable for home use slidable racks which are mounted on slides or wheeled brackets. This permits the rack to be slid outward for easy loading while still supporting the rack. Once loaded, the rack can be slid back into the dishwasher so that the dishes and other ware contained therein can be washed. Larger commercial warewashing machines lack this ability, since they generally utilize a plurality of wire or molded racks. This permits one or more racks to be loaded while one rack is being washed and one or more racks are drying and cooling.
Accordingly, a need remains for a warewashing machine with a device capable of holding a ware rack for convenient loading without consuming excessive space when not in use. Such a device should be easily inserted into the warewashing machine in order to consume minimal space while the tray and machine are not in use.